communication

Last week, in the aftermath of our Presidential election, we weren't quite sure what we should say in our weekly newsletter. Did we address the elephant in the room, or did we avoid starting or contributing to an already difficult, devolving conversation? We wrestled with our message that week--with how or if our newsletter was the right...

I’ve been teaching a lot of project management classes lately and throughout the classes there are opportunities for people to ask questions about interacting with others; it could be stakeholder engagement, it could leadership, coaching, or motivating team members, etc.

You’ve heard me say it before, and I’ll say it again…“We shouldn’t put people in boxes (not physically and not metaphorically).”It’s totally unfair to assume that just because someone demonstrates several of the tendencies common to a person who fits in “Box A” that means they permanently and in all other ways belong in “Box A”.

Conflict is not fun, especially at work. If you have a conflict with your family, you can probably yell at them without major repercussions. If you yell at people you work with, you will probably lose your job or least jeopardize your place in the organization. Like I said, conflict is not fun.

Legend has it that one day the Greek philosopher Socrates (470 – 399 BC) was approached by someone trying to get his attention. The person called out, in the Greek vernacular of the time, “Hey Socrates, wait until you hear what I just learned about So-and-So”. Before the guy could even say another word, Socrates stopped him and said something like “Wait. Before you tell me this thing, it...